For the Love of Sensory

As you read this, you may be feeling completely overwhelmed by all that is coming at you this time of year.  There is no question that ending a school year well is stressful for you and for your students.  All of us, at times, have experienced sensory overload.

These feelings you have may help you relate to this week's topic.  Leslie Brown, our HSE Autism Specialist, shares what life is like for students who have trouble filtering the world around them.  

We all know the Five Senses.  Are there more?

From Leslie: Driving in the Rain

When we hear the word sensory, what are the first thoughts that pop in your mind? It is likely the traditional five senses we all learned in early elementary.

We now know there are more: Our body’s ability to know its position in space, the ability to use touch to find an item without our vision, the balance receptors in our ears that loved roller coasters as teens but now they might make us queasy. Our brain filters millions of sensory messages each day, and those of us with mature systems can attend and respond to relevant sensory messages, and we ignore those that are not important! 

When you are on sensory overload, what do you need most?

Imagine your daily life if you could not filter all the sensory messages coming to you throughout the day.  Sand, finger painting, different textures, loud noises, fire alarms…. We are surrounded by sensory input all day long.  Most of us filter these away.  But what if you can’t?

We Know the Feeling

Have you ever felt as if you were experiencing sensory overload?  Think of times when you had too much coming at you.  There may have been too much sound, too little space, or overwhelming combinations of sights, smells, and emotions.

As an adult, we know how to cope. We might take a deep, cleansing breath: inhale, exhale, repeat.  Maybe we get up and walk away for a bit in order to reset our feelings.  We may even pour ourselves into our favorite clothes, sink into our favorite chair, cover up with our cozy blanket, and forget the world for a few minutes. 

Most of us, when we encounter these sensory overloads have gained knowledge of how to meet our needs in these situations.  We have learned to COPE.

Driving in the rain at high speeds....
And no wipers!

What if You Can't Cope?

Our students, our kiddos in our care daily, are still gaining this knowledge.  We hold the key to help them start learning to use their coping skills to meet their own sensory needs, and function in the world around them.  Helping them become the collaborators, imaginers, creators, and learners of the future.  

A great website to learn more about helping ALL children foster coping skills, not just those on the autism spectrum, A Sensory Life.  They use this metaphor:

Imagine driving along the freeway and it starts to drizzle.  You are able to maintain safety and ignore the few rain drops.  Your brain at this point sees the sensory input as irrelevant or not important. Then it starts to rain just a bit harder.  You really start to notice the drops on the windshield now, but you keep driving.  When it begins to pour you HAVE to use your windshield wipers. You cannot keep driving safely without them.

Use this scenario to imagine how a child who over-registers sensory input must feel with ANY type of sensory message. How would you feel if you were driving at high speeds in pouring rain and the wipers stopped working?

Educators know the truth of this statement!

This is the feeling some of our children have regularly.  Sometimes the wipers work, but sometimes they do not: they may not turn on at all or they may un too slowly or inconsistently. They don’t “wipe it away.”

We Make the Difference

It is vital to remember that we cannot withhold sensory interventions for our students.  These interventions are as important to them as windshield wipers are to us while driving in a downpour. 

Sensory needs are neurologically based and need to be added throughout a student’s day, not earned by the student. If you are not sure how to empower a student with sensory needs who is in your classroom, your Exceptional Learners Department can help. Each building has an occupational therapist who, along with resource staff and our intervention specialists can help you identify strategies to help students with sensory needs.

Please contact us and use us.  We are here to help.

Respond to Leslie at labrown@hse.k12.in.us

Have a great week, HSE.  At this time of year, it is certainly important to find ways to cope with sensory overload, both for your students and for yourselves.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education